Humidifying apparatus



Oct. 12 1926.

l. L. sJOsTROM HUMIDIFYING APPARATUS iled Oct. 4,

\NN a DR Patented Oct. 12, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HUMIDIFYING APPARATUS.

Application filed October 4, 1923. Serial No. 666,654.

This invention relates to improvements in the combination, construction and arrange-- ment of apparatus for use in humidifying, ventilating, and disinfecting rooms and I analogous enclosed spaces, my object being to produce an apparatus, preferably of portable character, that can be placed in any desired position for inducing a draft of air and delivering air containin a desired content of water vapor, or of t e vapor of another liquid or solution, when so desired, or which can be used as a circulating device for transferring air from one evel to another level.

The invention consists in an apparatus having improved features of construction and novel means for delivering the vapor of water or other volatile liquid to air and for circulating air through the room or other place in which the apparatus is located. The

preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanyin drawings and described in detail in the following specification.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a front elevation, parts being broken away to show the internal structure, of a form of apparatus embodying the invention.

Figure 2 is an elevation, partly broken away and partly in section of the apparatus 1 as seen from the right of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a horizontal section on line 3-3 of Figure 1 looking downward.

Figure 4 is a partial plan view of the top of the apparatus.

Like reference characters designate the same parts wherever they occur in all the figures.

The main or body part of the apparatus is a box or casing of any suitable construction, but conveniently being made of angle iron posts 1, 1 and sheet metal sides 2, 2 secured to said posts, which box is mounted on 5 casters 3 so as to be readily trundled from place to place. At the bottom, or other sulficiently low part of the box, are fastened supporting ledges 4 on which rests a trough or tank 5 containing water for humidifying purposes, or a disinfecting solution or liquid for use when disinfection of the atmosphere is reguired, or any other sufiiciently volatile liqul with'the vapor of which it may be desired to load the air of a room.

In the front and rear walls of the casing, or in any other two opposite walls, or in all the walls if desired, are openings 6 for the reception of air to be humidified and discharged; while in the upper end of the casing, which is substantially open, is a fan 7 for inducing flow of air. In order to increase the efliciency of the fan, it is preferably surrounded by a cylindrical shroud 8 depending from, and in alinement with the run of a circular opening in a top or cover plate 9 which has a flange 10 embracing the upper end of the casin The fan 7 is supported by the armature shaft of a motor 11 secured in a holder or saddle 12 which has arms 13 extending to the corners of the casing and supported by the posts.

Endless conveyer bands 14, 14 extend through the greater part of the height of the casing and dip into the trough 5, being supported by upper r0115 15 just below the motor and being extended by lower rolls l6 submerged in the trough. The upper rolls have trunnions 17 at their ends which rotate in bearings provided in bars 18 which extend across the casing beside opposite walls and are suitably supported at their ends by the corner posts. Said rolls are driven in unison by the motor by suitable means, preferably by worm gears 19 on the shafts of the respective rolls, worms 2O meshing with the several worm gears and mounted on a shaft 21, and a pinion 22 on the shaft 21 which is driven by a gear 23 from the armature shaft of the motor. The ends of the shaft 21 are mounted rotatably in suitable bearings in lugs 24 rising from bars 25 which are secured in the casing across the walls intermediate to those crossed by the bars 18. Preferably, and on account of the various advantages which are secured thereby, the worm wheel 19 of each roll 15 is mounted at the middle of the roll and the conveyor band driven by that roll is divided into two parts, between which parts the worm wheel is located, as indicated in Figures 2 and 3.

The lower rolls 16 have trunnions 26 which bear in or on slides 27 mounted in guideways 28 which are provided by parallel arms or bars projecting downward from a cross bar 29 secured at its ends to the posts of the casing. There are two such cross bars located at respectively opposite sides of the casing. Located in each of the guideways 28 so as to act on the bearing slides 27, are adjusting screws 30 operable to position and adjust the opposite ends of the respective extender rolls. Their adjustment enables the conveyer belts or aprons to be put under the degree of tension necessary to cause them to travel in unison with the rolls 15.

The bands or aprons themselves are provided and moved for the purpose of lifting water or other liquid from the trough and exposing the water to the current of air flowing through the casing in order that the liquid may be evaporated and absorbed by the air to the extent of its capacity for absorption during the time of its passage through the casing. These aprons are preferably made of cotton duck, because this material combines in suitable measure absorptive capacity, durability, relatively low cost, and ease of being fashioned into an endless apron of the sort required; but in a broad sense they constitute carriers for liquid adapted to expose a large area of wetted or liquid surface to the air flowing through the casing. Preferably the apron guiding rolls are so arranged relatively to the perforated walls of the casing, that the aprons are set edgewise to the flow of air entering the openings 6 under the influence of the fan and that the air passing thence to the outlet will travel parallel with the aprons and close to the wet surfaces thereof. By suitably designing the spacing and size of the apron guiding rolls 1 may accommodate more or fewer aprons in an apparatus of given dimensions, and locate the stretches of the aprons at any desired distance apart, either parallel or inclined to one another, or all parallel and vertical, or inclined, as may be necessary in order to get all parts of the flowing air stream into the desired close proximity to the moistened carriers. In flowing through the spaces adjacent to the carriers, the air absorbs the vapor emitted from the content of moisture on the carriers, and is humidified to a degree which is always less than saturation. Free water is not carried away by the air, but only the vapor which the air can absorb. The evaporation of moisture from the surfaces of the carriers is automatically regulated in inverse ratio to the relative humidity of the air enteringthe casing, being rapid when the air is dry and relatively less when the air already contains a higher percentage of the vapor which it is capable of absorbing.

The casing may be provided at one or more of its sides with a door 31 mounted by hinges 32, whereby access may be given to the inside of the casing for repairing or renewing the various moving, and other, in- 7 terior parts.

The fan motor 11 is preferably of a character such that it may be driven by the electric power furnished for domestic use in a locality where an apparatus of this character is to be used. It is, therefore, provided with a cable 33 adapted to be plugged into an electric lamp socket. In its preferred proportions the entire apparatus is small. For instance, about three and one-half feet tall by fourteen inches square are the dimensions of one design of apparatus which I have produced according to this invention. Such apparatus is, therefore, readily portable and can be installed simply by setting it on the floor and can then be trundled from place to place on its casters. An apparatus of the dimensions just named has capacity for humidifying to a comfortable degree the air of a large room or hall in cold seasons when artificial heat is used and the air, therefore, is exceptionally dry. Smaller sizesof the apparatus may be designed for smaller apartments.

The apparatus is adapted to circulate the air of a room, and may be moved from place to place in the room, wherever the air 1s stagnant and needs to be circulated. It thus washes and at the same time humidifies the air. In times of summer heat it may be used to cool the air; and if the water in the trough or tank is chilled a substantial lowering of the temperature may be obtained. By placing in the tank a disinfecting solution or compound, or one having the ability to absorb carbonic acid gas from the atmosphere, the apparatus may be used for disinfecting and purifying the air of sick rooms or assembly halls in which large numbers of people have gathered.

By providing a reversible motor or substituting a fan having the blades of the opposite pitch, the current of air through the casing may be delivered upward from the top or outward from the bottom. Again, by disconnecting the drive from the motor to the rolls 15, which may be effected at will in obvious ways, I may circulate the air without humidifying it.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A portable humidifying apparatus comprising a casing having lateral walls and a transverse top wall said top wall being formed with a circular opening a cylindrical shroud connected to the said top wallin continuation of said circular opening, an electric fan having blades located in the space surrounded by said shroud and arranged to rotate about the axis thereof, a

tank adapted to contain liquid located in the no lower part of the casing, lower guide rolls suspended in said tank, upper guide rolls by said motor for rotating said rolls, the mounted in the casing above said tank, all casing havin an opening in its side adjaof said rolls being substantially parallel cent to thee ges of said conveyer-bands and 10 with one another, endless conveyer bands above the tank.

passing around said upper and lower rolls, In testimony whereof I have aflixed my a fan motor mounted in the casing and consignature.

nected to drive said fan, and gearing driven IVAR L. SJ OSTROM.

suspended in said tank, upper guide rolls by said motor for rotating said rolls, the mounted in the casing above said tank, all casing havin an opening in its side adjaof said rolls being substantially parallel cent to thee ges of said conveyer bands and 10 with one another, endless conveyor bands above the tank.

passing around said upper and lower rolls, In testimony whereof I have afiixed my a fan motor mounted in the casing and consignature.

nected to drive said fan, and gearing drive-n IVAR L. SJ (ISTRGM.

Certificate of Correction.

It herebv certified that in Letters Patent No. 1,602,715, ranted October 12, 1926 :0 Ivar L. Sjostrom, of North Andover, Massachusetts, Ear an lmprovement in l-Iumidifying Apparatus, an error appears in the printed speelficatlon equning correction as ,follows: Pa e 2, line 101, before the word temperature Insert the word air; and that the said Letters Patent should be with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case 111 the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 9th day of November, A. D 1926.

[smn] J WM. KINNAN,

Acting Oomniaswner of Patents.

Certificate of Correction.

It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 1,602,715, granted October 12 1926 to Ivar L. Sjstriim, of North Andover, Massachusetts, for an improvement in iHumidifying Apparatus, an error appears in the printed specification requiring correction as follows: Pa e 2, line lOl, before the word temperature insert the word air; and that the said Letters Patent should be read With this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Office.

Signed and sealed this 9th day of November, A. D, 1926.

[SEAL] WM. A. KINNAN,

Acting Commissiomr of Patents. 

